HMS RICHMOND has successfully completed her period of Operational Sea Training and is about to deploy to the Caribbean.

Operational Sea Training tested the ship across all areas of maritime warfare but was given a specific twist in preparation for the deployment with the addition of the Disaster Relief Exercise, designed to give the ship experience of the sort of issues which will need to be addressed if the ship should be called on to give this kind of assistance during the deployment.

The exercise, which took place ashore at a specially-constructed site, was conducted in appropriately atrocious weather on the second May Bank Holiday Monday.

The ship's primary task during the deployment will be assisting in the multi-national efforts against drugs smugglers operating in the Caribbean, a significant proportion of whose cargo ends up in the UK.